KATHMANDU, AUGUST 28

In sheer disregard to the federal government's direction to all local levels to get their budget for the fiscal 2022-23 endorsed and enter its details into the specified portal of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration on time, 50 local governments are yet to act accordingly and comply with the existing legal provisions.

As per Section 71 of the Local Government Operation Act, the village/municipal assembly of each local level shall endorse the budget submitted by the village/municipal executive for the upcoming fiscal no later than mid-July.

Similarly, it requires the local levels concerned to enter details of the budget into the portal of the MoFA- GA compulsorily. Nearly one and a half months after the beginning of the new fiscal, 50 out of 753 local levels have failed to comply with the law despite repeated circulars of the MoFAGA.

According to a report of the MoFAGA, Madhes Province has maximum number of local governments (35) that have failed to present details of their budget for the current fiscal.

Others include Lumbini Province (7), Karnali Province (3), Bagmati and Sudurpaschim provinces (2 each) and Province 1 (1). Gandaki is the only province whose all local levels have presented the budget and entered the necessary details into the portal.

The Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangement Act also requires the local levels to present their budget within the stipulated time. If the local governments fail to present the budget on time, they will not be able to utilise the budget allocated to them, except for in extraordinary or emergency cases.

Moreover, some local levels have not even corresponded with the MoFAGA as to the ongoing delay. Apart from internal conflicts related to allocations, some local bodies said they lack trained manpower to formulate and present the budget. The federal government has already issued the Directive on Formulation of Annual Plan and Budget of Local Levels to implement and bring about uniformity in the programmes envisioned by the constitution and the Local Government Operation Act for the overall development of the local levels.

As per the directive, the local levels should prepare and implement annual plan and budget on the basis of the constitutions, other existing laws, medium-term expenditure framework of the concerned local level, resources, financial policies of the federal and provincial government, and the commitment made by the Government of Nepal in the international community.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 29, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.